Steam-engine valve



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

A. L. IDE. n

v STEAM ENGINE VALVE.

No. 360,594. Patented Apr. 5, 1887.

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(No Model.) 2 sheetssheet 2. A. L. IDE.

STEAM ENGINE VALVE.

No. 360,594. l Patented Apr. 5, 1887.

A gines and has important advantages in all en- UNITED STATES PATENTEEICE..

ALBERT L. IDE, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

STEAM-ENGINE VALVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 360,594, dated April 5,1887.

Application filed May 1], 1856.` Serial No. 201,823. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT L. IDE, of Springfield, in the county ofSangamon and State of Illinois,haveinvented certain new and usefulImprovements in Stean1-Engi1ieV-alves; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved construction inslide valves for steam-engines; and it consists in the mattershereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claims.

In a slide-valve embodying my improve meut the steam-passage leadingfrom each end ofthe cylinder to the valveseat is provided with two ormore openings or ports arranged side by side along the valve-seat, or,in other Words, in a line extending in the direction in which the valvemoves, and the movable part ofthe valve is provided at each end with working-surfaces correspondingin number and relative position with saidseveral ports, and adapted to open and close the latter during themovements of the valve. By this construction steam may be allowed topass at the same time through all of the said ports, so that a largearea for-the admission or exit of steam is obtained without materiallyincreasing the size of the valve and its casing, the width of the ports,or the throw ofthe valve, and with the obvious advantages of allowingarapid' passage of steam to and from the cylinder and of enabling a highpressure to be quickly established within said cylinder when the portsare opened. A construction affordingalarge area of passage through thesteam-valve is of especial utility in the case of highspeed engines,inasmuch as it enables them to do a greater amount of work with a lessconsumption of fuel.

I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings two different forms ofvalve embodying the same main features of my improvement, one

in which the steam is admitted to a central port or passage at themiddle .of the valve and exhausts at the ends thereof, and another inwhich the steam enters the steam -.chest orr valve-casing in the usualmanner and passes out through a central exhaust passage or port. Thevalve is in both cases of that class of type known as a hollowpiston-valve, or one in which the movable part of the valve consists ofa hollow tube having enlarged parts or pis` tous at both ends fitted toslide in cyliudric valve-seats containing annular steam-portssuch, forinstance, as is illustrated in the prior Letters Patent No.319,26L'granted to me upon the 2d day of June, 1885. The said hollowpiston-valve shown embodies certain features of improvement in additionto the main features of the invention above referred to, and which aremade the subject of specific claims herein.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating` my invention, Figure 1 is anaxial longitudt nal section through a steam chest and valve and adjacentparts of the steam -cylinder, said valve being constructed in accordancewith my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same,taken uponliue zrzrof Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view taken upon A line y y of Fig. 1.FigAE isalongitudiual sectional view of a valve constructed to takesteam at the end of the valve instead of at the middle. Fig. 5 is atransverse sectional view of the valve shown in Fig. 4,taken upon line.t .fr of said Fig. 4. Fig. Gis a transvese section taken upon line g/ yof Fig. 4.

As shown in said drawings, Figs. 1 to 3, both inclusive, A indicates thesteam-cylinder of an engine, B the valvescasing or steamchest, and C themovable part or valve proper, which is of form or type known as ahollow77 piston-valve, and is provided with the usual stem, c, passingthrough a gland, b, in the end of the steam-chest, and by which thevalve is operated in a familiar manner, the valve C being provided withthe usual enlarged parts or portions, C', at its cnds,which enlargedparts are iitted to slide in the annular cylindric valve-seats B',formed in the steam-chest B. The said steam-chest is connected with theends of the cylinder by means ofthe usual steam-passages, B2, and thesaid valve-seats B are each provided with two annular steamports, bb?,connected with each other and with the passages B2 by means oflongitudinal passages b, formed in the walls of the steam-chest andpreferably extending entirely around the IOO valve, as clearly shown inthe sectional views, Figs. 2 and 3. The said enlarged portions G areprovided with two separate annular working or bearing surfaces, G2 C,the bearing-surfaces C2 C2, adjacent to the outer ends of the valve,being constructed to operate in connection with the outermost ports, b',and the snrfaces C3 C acting in connection with the ports Zr adjacent tothe middle of the valve. ln the particular construction illustrated inFigs. l, 2, and 3 live steam is admitted to the valve through a centralchamber, B3, of the steamy chest and gains access to the ports Zr, whichare adjacent to the middle of the valve, through the space between thereduced or smaller middle part of the valve C and the inner portieri ofthe seat B, and passage is afforded for the steam to the outer ports,b', by means of passages c', formed in the wall of the valve Gandleading from the step or shoulder c3 at the inner end of the surfaces C3C3 to annular openings or ports ci, formed between said bearing surfacesC2 and C3, the bearingsurfaces C: C3 in this casc being formed on ringsc4, sustained from the body of the valve by radial ribs or rings c5, Vsoas to form the passages c' above referred to. rlhe width of the innerbearing-surfaces, C C, of the valve is in this case so proportionedrelatively to the distance between and width of the ports Z1 b2 thatwhen the opening c2 coincides with the outer port, b', of the valve-seatthe inner port, b2, of said seat will he uncovered by the piston, asclearly shown at the left hand in Fig. l, it being entirely obvious thatwhen the parts are in the position described steam will have free accessfrom the chamber B3 to the ports b b2.

' The exhaust-steam in the construction of theY parts above referred toand shown in Figs. l, 2, and 3, passes through the ports b only, theports b2 at one end ot' the valve obviously being closed at the timethat the latter is in position for the admission of steam to the ports bb2 at the opposite end of the valve. To allow suticient area for thepassage of the exhaust-steam, the said ports b are desirably made widerthan the ports b2. An exhaust passage or pipe, B2 is shown as attachedto Y one end of the steam-chest, the exhaust-steam from the ports at theend of the steam-chest opposite said exhaust-passage obviously passingthrough the hollow piston-valve to the said exhaust-passage in awell-known manner.

In Figs. 4,5, and 6 a construction is illustrated in which the livesteam is admitted at the end of the steam-chest and through the hollowinterior of the valve. In this case the ports b bzin the valve-seats andthe bearingsurfaces C2 Cf of the valve are arranged generally'iir themanner before described; but passage for live steam to the inner ports,b2, is provided by means of annular openings c, eX- tending through thewalls of the valves between said surfaces C C, as clearly shown in thedrawings. In this instance the exhauststeam passesfrom the inner seriesof ports, b2,

to the chamber B3 of the steam-chest, the said ports I12 being madewider and of larger area than ports b', to allow the free exit of theexhaust-steam therefrom. rlhe steam passage or opening c in the valve cis in this case so located relatively to the end ofthe valve that whenone of the ports b is uncovered by said valve the said passage c willcoincide with the adjacent ports b2, and thereby permit the free passageof steam from the interior of the valve to both oi'said ports. The stepor shoulder c3 at thejunction ofthe enlarged end portion of the valve ofthe smaller middle part thereof is, in the construction last described,so arranged relatively to the passages c that when the valve is moved inposition for the admission of steam at the opposite end of thesteanrchcst the said ports b2 will be uncovered and in communicationwith the chamber B3. B'D in this caseindicates an exhaust-pipe, which isconnected with the chamber Bi", and B6 a live-steam inlet communicatingwith one end of the eylindric passage ofthe steam-chest.

As far as the general operation of the valve is concerned, the ports b'b2 may be made continuous or in the form of annular grooves in thesurface of the valve-seat; or said ports may be divided by cross-bars orpartitions into a series of separate apertures communicating with anannular passage in the wall of the steam-chest. A preferred constructionin the parts is herein shown in Figs. l to 6, in which the surfaces ofthe steam-chest against which the annular bearing-surfaces C2 Ci of thevalve C operate are formed by separate annular rings'or bushings D,which are fitted into suitable recesses in the said chest,and areprovided with apertures forming the steamports b b2, said aperturesbeing divided by cross-bars d, which serve to connect the parts of thebushings upon opposite sides of the ports. In case bushings D areemployed, the passages b, connecting the ports b and b2 with the passageB2,will be formed by a wide annular groove or recess extending aroundthe inner face of the casting forming the steamchest, and of sufficientwidth to include both the said passages If and the ports b b2, saidgrooves or recesses being covered in their middle parts by the saidbushings, which thus form the inner walls of the said passages b3. Thewalls of the valve-casing are desirably provided within the said spacesor passages b3 with longitudinal ribs b4, as clearly shown in Figs. 2,3, 5, and 6, said ribs serving to sustain the middle parts of thebushing D in its part between the ports in an obvious manner. The saidbushings D are preferably held from displacement at their inner edges bymeans of annular projections b5, formed at the inner margins of thevalve-seat B', and are held from outwardv movement by the heads or capsB7 BB,which close the en ds of the cylindric valve-seats, said capsbeing provided with inwardly-projecting flanges constructed to restagainst the outer edges ofthe bushings. The

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exhaust-steam pipe B* in Fig. l and the steaminlet pipe B5 in Fig. 3 areshown as attached to or cast integral with the said caps BG.

The bushings D are in practice preferably made of steel and hardened andare ground t0 accurately t the valves, whereby perfect valvesurfacehaving great durability is obtained. The ports b bZ are preferably madestraight upon their sides at which the steam is rst admitted when theyare uncovered by the valve,

r for the purpose of giving the maximum initial of steam-inlet and quickcut-off, and the opposite or exhaust sides of the portsare desirablycurved, in order to increase the area of the bearing-surfaces adjacentto the ports and to give greater strength to the connecting parts Zbetween the ports.

Important advantages are gained by the use of the bushings D, for thereason that this construction enables the ports to be easily andconveniently constructed, and the said bushings, or' either of them, maybe readily taken out and new bushings inserted, with the result ofavoiding the necessity of taking the engine to a machine-shop and havingthe valve-seats rebored in case they become cut or worn. Thebearing-surfaces C of the valve may be provided with the packing ci,Fig. 1, consisting of a steel spring-ring, preferably made wider thanthe ports over which it passes, so that any connection with thecross-bars between the ports or liability of the edges of the ringcatching upon the edges of the ports is entirely obviated.

I am aware that a valve-seat has been provided heretofore with aplurality of ports in communication with each, end of the steamcylinder,and that a slide-valve provided with a plurality of bearing-surfacesacting to open and close said ports has been used in connectiontherewith, and a valve embracing this general feature of construction isnot, therefore, broadly claimed as new; but my invention is restrictedto the particular features of construction in the valve shown, which areset forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination, with an engine-cylinder, of asteam-chest or valve-casing provided with a central annular steam-spaceand cylindric valve-seats at each side of said space, each of saidvalve-seats being provided with two or more annular ports incommunication with the cylinder, and a hollow piston-valve having areduced central part and provided with two or more annular cylindricsurfaces separated by an annular opening or openings for steam, saidannularsurfaces being arranged to correspond in relative position withsaid annular ports and adapted to severally open and close the latter,substantially as described.

2. The combination, with an engine-cylinder,ofa valve-chest havingtwocylindric valveseats, each provided with two steam-ports communicatingwith a steam-passage leading to each end of the cylinder, a hollowpiston-valve provided with two annular bearing-surfaces, forming betweenthem an annular port or passage, c, located in position to communicatewith one of said steam-ports at the time the other steam-port isuncovered by the valve, and a longitudinal passage, c', in the wall ot'the valve, affording communication between the said passage c2 and acentral steam-space of the steam-chest, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a steam-chest having a cyliudric recessprovided with a broad annular passage, b3, of a removable bushingcovering said passage b3 and provided with two or more series ofapertures arranged circumferentially and forming two or more separatesteam-ports, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a steam-chest having cylindric recesses, ofremovable bushings covering said recesses and forming passages b3 andribs b in said passages, sustaining said bushings, substantially asdescribed.

5. The combination, with a cylindric valveseat provided with twosteam-ports, of a hollow piston-valve provided with annularbearing-surfaces C2 C, the surfaces CJ being formed upon rings et,sustained from the body of the valve by ribs c5, substantially asdescribed. 6. The combination, with a eylindric valve and valve-chestprovided with cylindrie seats having an annular steam-passage, b3, ofremovable bushings provided with two or more series of apertures formingsteam-ports, said apertures being straight upon the inlet sides of theports and curved upon the opposite or eX- haust sides of said ports,substantially as described.

I-n testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT L. ID E.

Witnesses:

C. CLARENCE POOLE, CHARLES E. FISHER.

IOD

